BATON ROUGE - Days after LSU gymnast and social media superstar Olivia Dunne posted a video promoting an AI-powered app capable of writing entire essays, the school has released a statement warning that any student who uses such a program to cheat on assignments could face discipline. 

The video in question, which was shared with Dunne's more than 7 million followers on TikTok over the weekend, features her demonstrating how the program works with the on-screen caption "Need to get my creativity flowing for my essay due at midnight."

LSU released the following statement after the video started circulating:

Technology, including AI, can foster learning and creativity. At LSU, our professors and students are empowered to use technology for learning and pursuing the highest standards of academic integrity. However, using AI to produce work that a student then represents as one’s own could result in a charge of academic misconduct, as outlined in the Code of Student Conduct. More information for faculty can be found here on “What College Faculty Should Know about ChatGPT”: https://www.lsu.edu/academicaffairs/cxc/news/2023/college-faculty-chatgpt.php

Artificial intelligence programs like ChatGPT have skyrocketed in popularity in recent months as the internet experiments with different uses for AI. 

LSU instructor Lori Favela says what the software is able to do is stunning.

"'My job is gone.' That was my first thought. 'My job is obsolete,'" Favela told WBRZ.

Artificial Intelligence is something that confuses many, but George Schiaffino with New Orleans Integrated Technologies says we use AI all the time.

"You are teaching a computer to think like a human being, and it is consuming knowledge. And unlike us, that forgets things here and there, it remembers everything," Schiaffino said.

AI could be you talking to Siri or Alexa, or simply pulling up directions on your phone, but the technology is getting far more complex.

For example, if you were to type "LSU women's basketball" into Caktus.AI, the software used by Dunne in her TikTok, it would spit out sentences and paragraphs on the topic in seconds. 

"It's pulling information that someone has already put into it, to go out and read the internet...go out and gather all of the information," Schiaffino said.

Favela says she is already changing the way she will assess students in one of her classes. She's now asking students to make a personal connection to what they've read.

"That is something that AI can never replace. It can never tell you how you are feeling," Favela said.

Schiaffino says even with AI making life more convenient, it could pose a real threat further down the line.

"You want to think, 'Can this be used for bad?' Obviously, it can, and it could be something you or I or others haven't thought of," Schiaffino said.

Shiaffino also notes that the people who program AI insert their personal biases to control what the AI says. It's something that still has a lot of questions and concerns.

We decided to let AI write the portion below. The prompt we put into Caktus.AI was "The dangers of artificial intelligence."

THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN BY AI, NOT A REPORTER AT WBRZ:

The potential dangers of artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly clear. While artificial intelligence can potentially be a force for good, it also has the potential to replace human jobs, create ethical and moral dilemmas, and increase surveillance while decreasing privacy. In this essay, I will explore the potential dangers of artificial intelligence and how they might affect our lives.

The potential for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to replace human jobs has been a topic of much debate in recent years. This potential is a growing concern as AI technology continues to become more advanced and autonomous. According to a 2016 study conducted by V Kolbjørnsrud and R Amico, AI could potentially replace up to 47% of all jobs in the United States over the next 20 years. This is a startling statistic that suggests a significant shift in the labor force and how it could be impacted by the rise of AI technology. The study suggests that certain types of jobs, such as those in the service industry, could be at the highest risk of being replaced by AI technology, due to the nature of the job being simple enough for a computer to be able to complete more efficiently and cost-effectively. The study also highlights the need for more education and training in order to help workers adapt to the changing technological landscape and to ensure that they can remain competitive in the labor market. Ultimately, the potential for AI to replace human jobs is a cause for concern and should not be taken lightly.

The potential for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create ethical and moral dilemmas is an issue that has been the subject of much recent research. In their study “The Influence of Artificial Intelligence on Ethical Dilemmas”, Zhang, Chen, and Xu (2022) investigate this issue, focusing specifically on the effects of AI on moral decision-making. They find that AI-driven decisions can be both beneficial and detrimental to ethical decision-making. On the one hand, AI can help make decisions efficiently, without bias or prejudice, and can provide us with data that helps us make more informed decisions. On the other hand, AI can be used to manipulate the data, leading to decisions that are unethical or immoral. Additionally, the increased use of AI has the potential to lead to moral and ethical dilemmas, as AI can be used to make decisions that may not be in the best interest of the general public. In conclusion, the potential for AI to create ethical and moral dilemmas is an important topic that deserves further research. We need to be aware of the potential consequences of using AI, and ensure that any decisions made by AI are ethical and moral.

The potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to increase surveillance and decrease privacy has been a major concern of governments and citizens alike. This concern has been affirmed in a study conducted by S Truex, N Baracaldo, A Anwar, T Steinke, and other researchers, published in 2019. The study delved into the implications of AI on the privacy of citizens and found that AI can be used as a powerful tool for surveillance. AI can be used to process large amounts of data quickly, allowing for more detailed and targeted surveillance. AI can also be used to identify and monitor people based on their behavior, creating a surveillance system which is more effective and intrusive than ever before. In addition, AI can be used to create accurate profiles of people, making it easier to collect and analyze data on individuals. This can have serious implications for the privacy of citizens, as well as their right to anonymity. As a result, governments and other organizations must take steps to ensure that AI is not used as a tool for surveillance, and that citizens’ rights to privacy and anonymity are respected and protected.

Although artificial intelligence holds great promise for the future, it is not without its dangers. AI technology threatens to displace vast numbers of jobs as machines become increasingly sophisticated, while the ethical implications of creating self-aware machines is uncertain. Moreover, the lack of boundaries in placing control over AI systems, and their potential to be used for malicious purposes should not be underestimated, making it crucial that responsible measures are taken to ensure the development of this technology is tightly regulated.

Work Cited

Z Chen."Artificial intelligence and moral dilemmas: Perception of ethical decision-making in AI."https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103122000464

V Kolbjørnsrud."How artificial intelligence will redefine management."https://enterprisersproject.com/sites/default/files/how_artificial_intelligence_will_redefine_management.pdf

S Truex., N Baracaldo., A Anwar., T Steinke."A hybrid approach to privacy-preserving federated learning."https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3338501.3357370